Theresa May’s visit to Nelson Mandela’s prison cell has been branded “nauseating” after she was unable to name a single way she protested against his 27-year incarceration.
The Prime Minister visited Robben Island – where Mandela was locked up for 18 years – during a trip to South Africa.
But in an interview with Channel 4 News, May could not give any examples of how she supported the anti-apartheid movement in the 1980s.
Reporter Michael Crick asked whether May, as a “loyal party member”, shared Margaret Thatcher’s view that Mandela was a “terrorist”.
May admitted she never went on any protests against apartheid, unlike Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who was arrested in 1984 during a picket of the South African embassy.
Labour General Secretary Jennie Formby took to Twitter to express her anger at May’s visit to Robben Island.
Labour Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell also spoke out on May’s record when it came to the anti-apartheid movement.
May was given a tour of the cell where Mandela was kept from 1964 to 1982, and wrote in the visitors’ book: “It has been a privilege to visit in this year - the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nelson Mandela.